Today's MacUpdate Promo saves 67% off the price of cf/x photo mosaic for just $9.99. "cf/x photo mosaic is a highly specialized app to create high quality image-from-images type mosaics. It doesn't do anything else, but this one thing it does better than any other application available (and, yes, that even includes our own flagship 'alpha'). In addition to being blindingly fast, photo mosaic comes with special presets that help you create great photo mosaics even out of borderline images."

"Apple's ads failing, says firm that called Surface ads effective: Ace Metrix, a company that likes to think it knows how to measure TV ad effectiveness, says Apple's new ads are not a success with consumers." CNET News 8:03 AM

"How to improve Mac security: Mac OS X is inherently secure, but there are a handful of steps you can take to tighten things even further" Macworld UK 8:30 AM

"How to rip DVDs on a Mac: Here's how to backup a DVD on your Mac's hard disk using free software, in case of damage or if you want to transfer it to your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch" TechAdvisor 8:30 AM

"Apple iTunes store outage cuts off 20 percent of users: Issue is preventing a sizable portion of Apple's customers from making purchases on the company's music pages." CNET News 8:04 AM

"Siri Will Now Read You The News, Courtesy of Wibbitz: Israeli startup Wibbitz offers a new take on the news with an app that converts text to robo-narrated article summaries. Set to pretty video, of course." ReadWrite 8:39 AM

"Everpix wants you to actually see your photos: The Everpix 2.0 iOS app has been redesigned for better visual search as well as surfacing photos in your collection from years ago." CNET Reviews 11:44 AM

"Despicable Me: Minion Rush Review/Despicable Me: Minion Rush does the movie justice and is one of the best infinite-runners in the app store because of its great visuals and fun gameplay." 148Apps 2:37 PM

"Magic 2014 Review: Sometimes more of the same is more than enough." 148Apps 12:42 PM

"Anodyne Mobile Review: Anodyne Mobile is not the best PC-to-iOS port, but this Zelda homage with a mysterious world is still worth checking out in this form." 148Apps 5:04 PM

"The New Age of Personal Computing" ["Despite mobile devices overshadowing computers in the market, PCs (and Macs) remain an anchor for online life. They haven't been diminished by everyone buying smartphones and tablets and game systems and connected HDTVs. They've become augmented. Every account we make online, every social network we access, communication app we use, and every media service we watch and listen to is available on all of these other devices."] PC Magazine 7:53 AM

"Ballmer's latest pitch to the faithful: Wide of the mark? CEO Steve Ballmer made the case that Microsoft can be all things to all people, but that argument fell short when his Build 2013 keynote couldn't stick its landing." CNET News 8:40 PM

"Don't buy a new PC or Mac before you read this: Is the laptop, desktop, or tablet you plan to buy stuck with a last-gen CPU? That may be a reason to wait: or a way to get a great deal. Here's how to tell." CNET Reviews 7:06 PM

"Europe Markets: Europe stocks mostly up, chemicals off/Most European stocks traded higher on Thursday, following on from global equity gains, though the major indexes were flat as broker downgrades in the chemical sector hit several stocks, while Subsea 7 SA tumbled on an earnings update." MarketWatch 8:05 AM